Best Social Media Schedulers (2026): 9 Tools Compared on Free Plans, Price per Profile and Who Each One Is For

Short answer: Buffer is the best social media scheduler for most people: the free plan covers 3 channels, and paid scheduling starts at $5 a channel a month billed yearly. Metricool is the better free pick if you also want analytics, though its free plan leaves out LinkedIn and X. SocialBee suits small businesses that plan posts by content category, from $29 a month for 5 profiles. Vista Social is the value pick for agencies, with 15 profiles and unlimited scheduling from $99 a month. Postiz is the open-source option you can host yourself. Updated November 9, 2026.

How we checked: every price, plan name, profile limit and free tier below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, read November 9, 2026, and each one is linked. Postiz's license comes from its GitHub repository. We did not run these tools hands-on, and we did not use third-party review scores. Where a pricing page did not state something, the table says "Not stated". Several vendors show only the price billed yearly; we quote that figure and say so.

Buffer has the most usable free plan here: up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time (a slot reopens when a post goes out), 1 user and 30 days of insights. Paid plans are priced per channel. Essentials is $5 a channel a month billed yearly ($60 a year), and Team, which adds unlimited users, is $10 a channel a month billed yearly ($120 a year). Paid scheduling is unlimited, with a fair-use cap of 5,000 posts per channel. Both paid plans have a 14-day trial, and if you do not add a card, the account drops back to Free.

Not for: teams that need a shared social inbox with listening and deep reporting, or agencies with dozens of profiles, where per-channel pricing adds up. The pricing page says channels above 10 cost less each but does not list those rates.

Metricool combines scheduling with analytics and competitor tracking. The free plan covers 1 brand, 20 scheduled posts a month, 5 competitor profiles and 30 days of analytics, but it works with every network except LinkedIn and X. Starter runs from $25 a month billed monthly ($20 billed yearly) for up to 5 brands, or $45 ($36 yearly) for up to 10, with unlimited publishing under a fair-use policy. Advanced, from $67 a month ($53 yearly) for 15 brands, adds post approvals and team and client management. AI credits run from 5 per brand on Free to 35 on Advanced.

Not for: anyone whose main network is LinkedIn or X and who wants to stay on the free plan. The pricing page does not state a seat count per plan.

SocialBee organizes your posts into content categories, so a week can mix tips, promotions and curated links on a set schedule. Bootstrap is $29 a month ($24 billed yearly) for 5 profiles, 10 categories and up to 1,000 posts per category. Accelerate is $49 ($40 yearly) for 10 profiles, 50 categories and 2 years of analytics. Pro is $99 ($82 yearly) for 25 profiles, 3 users per workspace and 5 workspaces. Agency plans run from $179 a month for 50 profiles to $449 for 150. Unlimited AI content generation is listed on every plan, and there is a 14-day trial with no card.

Not for: teams of several people on a small budget. Bootstrap and Accelerate include 1 user per workspace; more seats start on Pro. See the pricing page.

Vista Social is built for managing many brands at once. Professional is $99 a month ($950 a year) for 15 profiles, 2 users and unlimited post scheduling, with 1,000 AI credits a month for captions and replies. Advanced is $199 ($1,910 a year) for 30 profiles and 3 users, and Scale is $449 ($4,310 a year) for 70 profiles and 4 users. Every plan has a 14-day trial with no card. Listening for your own profiles is free, and employee advocacy can be tried with 3 advocates.

Not for: anyone who mainly posts to X: the pricing page lists X integration as a $29-a-month add-on. A solo creator with 3 channels will also pay less on Buffer.

Later sells "social sets" of up to 8 profiles. Starter is $18.75 a month billed yearly for 1 social set, 1 user and 30 posts per profile. Growth is $37.50 for 2 sets (16 profiles), 2 users and 180 posts per profile. Scale is $82.50 for 6 sets (48 profiles), 4 users and unlimited posts. AI credits run from 5 a month on Starter to 100 on Scale. Extra social sets are $11.25 a month and extra users $3.75. All three have a 14-day trial; there is no free plan.

Not for: daily posters on Starter, where 30 posts per profile is a hard limit. The pricing page quotes yearly prices ("3 months free, 25% off"); the monthly-billed prices were not shown to us.

Postiz is an open-source scheduler. Its code is on GitHub under the AGPL-3.0 license, so you can run it on your own server. The hosted plans are Standard at $29 a month ($23 yearly) for 5 channels with no team members, Team at $39 ($31) for 10 channels, Pro at $49 ($39) for 30 channels, and Ultimate at $99 ($79) for 100 channels. Every hosted plan has unlimited posts and a 7-day trial, and every plan above Standard has unlimited team members. Postiz's docs say it publishes to 34 social platforms.

Not for: people who want a scheduler without any setup and do not care about owning the data. Self-hosting means running and updating a server yourself. The pricing page calls self-hosting a "secondary option" and does not put a price on it.

Hootsuite is priced per user. Plans start at $99 a user a month for Standard (10 social accounts, unlimited scheduling, AI post and image generation), $199 for Professional (unlimited accounts, automated inbox replies, forecasting) and up to $399 for Advanced, all billed yearly. Enterprise is custom. Every self-serve plan has a 14-day trial, though trial accounts are limited to 10 to 20 posts a day and cannot bulk schedule.

Not for: small teams that only need a posting calendar. You pay for an inbox, listening and reporting you may not use. The plans page does not show monthly-billed prices.

Sprout Social is the other per-seat suite. Essentials is $79 a seat a month ($99 billed monthly) for up to 5 profiles. Standard is $199 a seat a month for 5 profiles plus a shared inbox, monitoring and review management; Professional is $299 with unlimited profiles; and Advanced is $399 with the Sprout API and helpdesk integrations. The page lists these under annual billing. Every plan includes 100 AI agent credits per seat a month, and the trial is 30 days with no card.

Not for: budget buyers. A three-person team on Standard pays $597 a month before add-ons. See the pricing page.

Zernio is not a calendar app; it is an API for developers who want to build posting into their own product. There are no plans or seats. The first 2 connected social accounts are free with no card, accounts 3 to 10 are $6 a month each, 11 to 100 are $3 each, and 101 and up are $1 each, so 10 accounts cost $48 a month. Posts are unlimited. Its page lists Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Bluesky and more.

Not for: marketers who want to click and schedule. You need to write code against it. The pricing page does not state API rate limits.

• One person, a few channels, little budget: start on Buffer's free plan. Move to Essentials at $5 a channel when 10 queued posts per channel gets tight.
• You want analytics without paying: Metricool Free, as long as LinkedIn and X are not your main networks.
• You run a content mix on repeat: SocialBee, whose categories are the core of the product.
• You manage 15 or more profiles for clients: Vista Social Professional at $99 for 15 profiles is cheaper per profile than the per-seat suites. Price in the X add-on if you need it.
• You want to own the software: Postiz, self-hosted under AGPL-3.0, or its hosted plans from $29.
• You need a shared inbox, listening and executive reporting: Hootsuite or Sprout Social, priced per user.
• You are building an app that posts for its users: Zernio.

Before you pay, count three things: how many profiles you post to, how many people need a login, and how many posts each profile gets a month. Those three numbers decide which pricing unit (per channel, per seat, per plan or per account) is cheapest for you.

What is the best social media scheduler?

Buffer is the best default for most people: it has a free plan for 3 channels and paid scheduling from $5 a channel a month billed yearly. Agencies with many profiles get more per dollar from Vista Social, and large teams that need a shared inbox and reporting usually pick Hootsuite or Sprout Social.

Is there a free social media scheduler?

Yes. Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels with 10 queued posts each. Metricool's free plan covers 1 brand and 20 posts a month but excludes LinkedIn and X. Postiz is open source under AGPL-3.0, so you can host it yourself. Zernio's API is free for the first 2 accounts.

Which social media scheduler is best for agencies?

Vista Social, from $99 a month for 15 profiles and 2 users, with plans up to 70 profiles. SocialBee's agency plans run from $179 a month for 50 profiles. Hootsuite and Sprout Social suit larger agencies but charge per user or seat.

Is there an open-source social media scheduler?

Postiz is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license and can be self-hosted. It also sells hosted plans from $29 a month for 5 channels, with a 7-day trial.

How much does Hootsuite cost compared with Sprout Social?

Hootsuite starts at $99 a user a month for Standard, billed yearly. Sprout Social starts at $79 a seat a month for Essentials ($99 billed monthly), and its Standard plan is $199 a seat a month.